Longstory: A Dating Game for the Real World

Genre: Visual Novel

Players: 1

.

Review:

Longstory is a Visual Novel released on mobile devices in 2014, ported to PC in 2017, and then to Nintendo Switch in 2018. This game puts players in the role of a junior high school student returning to their old school after a year abroad, meeting new friends and contending with old acquaintances at the same time, with players also investigating mysterious notes left in their locker by a student who is no longer at the school.

The school at the center of this story, Weasel Heights Middle School, is… odd. The principal is one of those with a very liberal approach to student discipline (along the lines of “we can all talk/meditate/hug/interpretive dance our way through our problems!”) and one of the game’s major characters is a student who insists on wearing a silly-looking mascot costume at all times and speaking only via pantomime.

While these elements are a bit… bizarre… I have to admit that the rest of the characters here are surprisingly well-written and multidimensional. There’s something very real about the way these characters talk and interact with one another, and you feel like all of them have a distinct voice, even minor characters you might have dismissed early into the game.

One of the other things I need to mention is how refreshingly LGBT-friendly this game is. Normally, I gloss over that sort of thing in these reviews, because I tend to feel like we shouldn’t celebrate just because a videogame allows for same-sex couples, especially in a game with dating and relationships as its central theme. Frankly, same-sex couples should be a given at this point in these games as far as I’m concerned. However, even with that point of view, I have to applaud Longstory for how inclusive it is, as some of the relationship dynamics depicted in the game are the sort I don’t think I’ve ever seen represented in a videogame before. I’d go into more detail, but doing so would be major story spoilers.

One of the other things that Longstory does very well is making players feel like they’re free to make their own choices throughout the story. While there were certainly times I felt like I was denied an option that would have been my preference or forced down a road I wouldn’t have chosen, for the most part I felt like the player was not only free to pursue the relationships they find interesting, but also have a good amount of influence in how they decide to address the character conflicts that come up throughout the game.

Visually, Longstory looks good, with nice, cartoony 2D visuals for its characters and backgrounds. Nothing particularly unique or inspired, but the character designs are at the very least pleasant and not generic-looking – they all have a personality to them. This is backed by a surprisingly good soundtrack that feels like the sort of thing you’d associate with a small indie film, with mostly relaxed songs like A Long Story, Another Day, and Looking Back.

While much of this game impressed me, it still had some major issues. The menus in this game do not work properly unless you are using the touchscreen (which works fine), although this doesn’t matter much for gameplay once you actually get into the game. Additionally, at one point, the game would not let me proceed until I rewound the text and replayed it again.

Also, as much as I enjoy this game’s plot and characters, that had some issues too. It needs to be highlighted that this story focuses on teenagers, and as such these characters are hyper-emotional, not always rational, and they do that thing I hate in romance plots where they refuse to talk about their issues to actually resolve problems. Also, this game gets to a point where it feels like it has reached a good conclusion… and then it keeps going. Which is fine, but then things start to get interesting again… only for the game to suddenly stop. I couldn’t help but feel like this game should have either ended at the good stopping point, or proceeded on to tell an entire new chapter, and this added bit extra at the end only left me feeling a bit unsatisfied.

Still, overall I was delighted with Longstory. The characters are thoroughly lovable and the story was extremely engaging, there’s an excellent degree of choice afforded to the player, the soundtrack is good, and the level of inclusion here is impressive enough that I was genuinely stunned by it. It is absolutely not without its flaws – there were definitely times I rolled my eyes at how “(junior) high school drama” everything felt, the ending left something to be desired, and the menus don’t work properly. But even with these flaws, this is a game I’d recommend to anyone looking for a great, lighthearted romance story on Nintendo Switch.

tl;dr – Longstory is a Visual Novel where players take the role of a Junior High School student in a strange school with a “hug it out”-style principal and one student who never takes off a giant turkey mascot outfit. Despite its eccentricities and occasional dips into groan-worthy “teenage drama”, as well as some frustrating interface issues, overall I think players will be delighted with this game’s wonderful characters, engaging plot, meaningful choices, and surprisingly impressive inclusivity. As of this writing, this game is one of my favorite romance stories on the Nintendo Switch.

Grade: B+

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are MB, Andy Miller, Johannes, u/RamboFox, Exlene, Eli Goodman, Ilya Zverev, Stov, Connor Armstrong, and K.H. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}